Our guys go from war

In 1700, the historian of Luga, Michal Abraham Frenzel, in his writings for the first time mentioned the existence of a kind of “magical” Luzick military song. In 1783, the German historian Karl Gottlob von Anton wrote that there was some kind of chant among the Luzhdans, which said that they hope to get rid of the Germans, whom they consider their enslavers. Karl Gottlieb von Anton wrote that the Luzhsk people have been transmitting this song to each other since ancient times and keeping it secret from the Germans ^[1] .

“They remember too well that they were the masters of the land that now belongs to their enemies - the Germans. In their memory all the atrocities inflicted upon them are still too vivid and they feed themselves with the hope that the time will come when they will raise their heads again and their oppressors will be overthrown. They still have legends about their fate, which they keep secret from the Germans ” ^[2] .

For the first time, a chant in the Upper Luzhitsky language was published in 1806 by the Puddle poet Rudolf Men , who wrote it down from the words of his father, Yuri Me . In 1841, Ian Smoler published a chant in the collection of Ludice chants, proverbs and ethnographic material Volkslieder der Ober- und Nieder-Lausitz . In this essay, Jan Smoler writes that two chants were discovered: one of the environs of the village of Lozav in Upper Luzhitsa and the other from the area of ​​the village of Naundorf in Lower Luzhitsa ^[3] .

In 1893, the German historian Ewald Müller published in his essay “Slavism in the Lower Puddle” ^{[4] an} expanded version of the chant, which, as he wrote, was given to him by a certain cantor from Zelov ^[1] . Another option was provided by the Czech co- worker Adolf Black .

At the end of the XIX century, there were already about 20 variations of chants collected by various scholars. For the most part, this song was known in the Upper Luzhniki language. There were several melodies of this chant, of which two melodies from the German folk songs “ Oh wie wohl ist mir am Abend” and “Tonempfinden Einblick” received the greatest distribution. It is believed that the authentic historical performance of the song most closely matches the melody from the song “Tonempfinden Einblick” ^[1] .

Luzhitsky music historian Jan Raup argues that the chant “Our guys go from war” with its tradition goes back to folk songs, the source of which was oral Slavic epic chants of the 12th century. According to him, epic chants like this hymn also exist in the folk song tradition among the Serbs and Poles. In his opinion, the historical context of chants dates back to the 10th century and, in particular, to the history of Saxony ^[1] . The main historiographer of Saxony at this time is the German historian and abbot of the Benedictine Corveyan monastery Vidukind Korveysky , who in his work "Res gestae Saxonicae " described the struggle between the Saxon Prince Heinrich of Vogler and the Slavs- Dalemins ^[5] .

Vidukind Korveysky in his essay mentions the invasion of the Hungarian army in Saxony around 904, during which the local Slavs entered into a military alliance with the Hungarians against the German king Henry I. After this invasion, Henry I paid tribute to the Hungarians, and the dalmniks were allied with the Hungarians. After the secondary invasion of the Hungarians around 924, Saxony was again destroyed, which led to the fact that the Slavs were forced to leave their lands and serve another people ^[6] . According to Jan Raup, the phrase from the work of Vidukind Korveysky that “the Hungarians got a big booty” after the first campaign indirectly indicates the participation of the Slavs in the campaign against the Germans. Jan Raup writes that the end of the chant, which describes the suffering of a hero forced to earn his bread in a foreign land, indicates that after the second invasion of the Hungarians, the Dalemins were forced to leave their native places. The historical context of the Military Kerlusz also confirms the interjection “huj”, which is a purely Hungarian influence and, as the song “Ex eorum turpis et diabolica hui, hui frequenciesenter auditur” is written, was the war cry of the Hungarian army ^[4] .

In the chant the hero bears the name "Pan", which, according to folklorists, may refer to the name of one of the Slavic princes. This name can be associated with the Slavic name “Piš” or “Peš”, which is a modified form of the name “Petrus” (Peter). Another option suggests that the name of the hero symbolizes the Slavic name Pykh or Pyhor ^[7] .

Some folklorists have doubts about the interpretation of the plot of the song, which is associated with specific events from the history of the Lusatian people. Jan Smoler claims that such chants exist in Poland , Moravia , the Czech Republic and Ukraine . As he writes, a similar plot exists in a children's poem, which is used in the game "Queen" among the children of Galicia .

Chant is widely known and used in modern puddle culture. Luzhitsky composer Barnat Krautz wrote the song “33 Luzhitsky folk songs for voice and piano op. 52 ”, in which are fragments of the Warlord. Luzhitsky artist Mertin Novak-Nekhornsky painted a picture dedicated to the Military Curlus.

• “ Victories of the Serbs ” (Upper Luzhitsky song)

• Jan Rawp, NaŠe golcy z wojny jědu - staroserbski episki spew , Lětopis , no. 1-4, Domowina, 1953, pp. 35 - 37
• Krawc, Bjarnat, Naše gólcy z wójny jědu: wójnski kjarliž = Naši hólcy z wójny jědu: wójnski kěrluš , Chośebuz, 1999

• The oldest heroic epic of the Lusatian Serbs